This is an excellent comment to help clarify something! The anti kibble marketers will say just what you said. No one can argue that the human food supply, at least in America, processes foods to simply taste better and even increase your craving for them, while adding all kinds of horrible things. High fructose corn syrup would be an example. So the smart marketing is to describe formulating a kibble as the same process. There’s a Dr Becker, a veterinarian who knows nothing about clinical nutrition and of course pushes raw, actually says kibble fir pets is the same as McDonals for people! Nothing could be further from the truth. Kibble can be made with all the animal and plant protein an animal needs to provide all the essential amino acids. It can contain the many vitamins and minerals in the most precise, optimal levels. It can provide high quality fats fir energy, skin and coat conditioning. It can provide optimal fiber (prebiotics) for GI health. Many are starting to add antioxidants, though few add enough to bd beneficial. The process is very different! The top board certified vet nutritionists and chemists formulate these diets to perform all kinds of results. Managing kidney disease, dissolving urinary stones, putting diabetes into remission, relieving arthritis pain, the list goes on…..all in a kibble form. (And canned too.) I actually did a video on Farmers Dog, Ollie and Nom Nom. I compared the actual nutrients the company provided. Farmers Dog won but you are correct that it is not a life stage food, which means by law it is high enough in nutrients to feed an eight week old puppy! That’s what you’re feeding ti your adult or senior dog! Nothing optimal or healthy about that. If I knew how I’d link my video here but you can go ti the Pet Food Puzzle Guy and find it there. I hope you do. Thanks for the opportunity to talked about the term processed!

@@PetFoodPuzzleGuy PLEASE let me know which dry kibble is this healthy. I'm dog-tired (pardon the pun) trying to search for a quality kibble. I do like kibble because it helps "scrub," the teeth. Although I still believe in regular dental cleanings our vet does. Thank you!

@@MidwestMotor well, I hate just recommending products but Science Diet is the diet I trust the most. Of course I know personally the nutritionists, past nutritionists who have retired like me, and most important the actual nutrient levels. There’s a reason most vets feed Science Diet to their own pets. I hate to disappoint you but dry really doesn’t clean teeth. I wish it did. Years ago canned food was extremely high in ingredients that produced plaque. Many vets could guess a dog was on canned. Now canned food is much more balanced so there is no difference. As a matter of fact, only Hills makes two diets which squeegee the tooth up to the gum line, removing plaque before it becomes tarter. Welcome to the channel!

I use their Oral diet for treats. The dogs love the big chunks and the teeth are looking good. But I brush and use a water additive.

@@MidwestMotorI feed my dogs Farmina and carna 4 they are great quality kibble but expensive

I just finished a video and ready to publish it… on Obesity. I couldn’t agree more! Exercise and staying a healthy weight. Nothing more important!

Amen to that!!!

Yes, I feel like most people don't walk their dogs. Especially in modern times because we are so sedentary.

Glad it was helpful! I appreciate that!

I am trying to do a review on Dr Marty’s but his website offers no actual nutrient levels. I’m not surprised since he is not a nutritionist or even a veterinarian but a great self promoter. I did find a phone number so I will call and try and get some real nutritional info. I see a 5 lb bag is almost $40. Not surprised!

We tried the smaller, introductory bag of Dr. Marty’s. Our dog, who loves all food, also loved Dr. Marty’s. One thing kept us looking for something better- the fact that this dehydrated food had a shelf life of OVER ONE YEAR! We were sure we could do better & are very happy w/the Farmers dog. Farmers is also the only one of the 3 reviewed, that is certified Human Grade. If you think that’s just not a big deal, you should see how different the criteria are for getting certified to be designated as Human Grade! Mostly, we were horrified at the lax ( pretty horrid actually), requirements . in place for preparing & selling dog food. Look it up….When my grandkids ate the whole package of Farmers Training Treats, I didn’t have to worry! Made w/only 3 ingredients- Beef-Apples- Salt, and in a kitchen clean enough to supply a restaurant, we knew we were safe. I did get half of a stick the kids left behind, & have to say it was really delicious!

I’ll check it out but whenever Dr. Becker is involved I know it’s pseudo science and philosophy, not science. There’s plenty of self promoters these days. I try and believe they are sincere but…

I'm with you but I try to hear his points. But clearly he's anti raw /fresh food despite the overwhelming evidence over the years

I actually like the guy. I think he needs to work more with actual nutritionists. His one comment that the companies he talked with and visited were not interested in micronutrients is just the opposite of what I experienced with Hills. With the Hills nutritionists, who I talk with often, it’s all about the micronutrients.

I always had big dogs, grateful for any food. My two little ones now are very finicky. I add boiling water to their dry, let it cook, and they love it. So I do that pretty regularly and then they eat their dry better. I add cooked egg sometimes too. But they’re going to eat what I think is best for them.

Stephanie, yes the minimum standard for most ingredients is dismally poor. You’re talking about 4D meat. But think about it. If a food company was using such low quality meat sources, there would be other items in that meat source, such as hair, hoof, beaks, feathers,etc. which is actually much more common than 4D meat. And that would show up in the mineral content of the food, namely calcium and phosphorus. So that’s how a food company can promote appealing ingredients yet why do these companies with human grade ingredients have such excessive mineral levels? Those excessive mineral levels can be very harmful to your dog or cat, especially as they age. So your issue is a valid one but human grade meat doesn’t mean optimal nutrients either. Hope that clarifies a bit. Other videos go into it more. Thanks for watching and commenting!

@@PetFoodPuzzleGuy Thank you for that explanation. We just started farmers dog and are hoping to see a difference. We have 2 dogs, one eats great and is 4. The other has stopped wanting the kibble and is 9 with Cushings disease. We’ve had to entice him by mixing wet food and toppers. So we are hoping this change will help. We’ve also noticed all of our dogs have died from cancer and the only common thing we can think is the food which has always been kibble. As a child our dogs lived to 15+ but in the last 20 years they haven’t made it past 10. It gets us thinking why and what changes have been made possibly to the food to cause it? They get their regular vet checks, aren’t over weight and have all their shots. Being a pet parent is tricky trying to make the best choices for them.

@@stephaniehetzerso sorry for your losses. I wish we had a simple answer to cancer, both animal and human. Our last Berner we list to cancer, but she was a month short of 13 and her blood work was perfect. But I agree before age 10 is tragic. I appreciate your commitment to your pups. That’s why I started my channel. I hope you’ll learn some new insights from my videos.

Well thanks for the compliment. I’ve been blessed. But I will say my dogs eat a more balanced diet than me!

The myth that dry was better first teeth was kinda true a few decades ago. Canned food was very high and excessive in ingredients/nutrients that promoted plaque. Some old vets could look in a mouth and tell you if the dog ate canned. I remember those vets fondly. And Milkbone taught a whole generations that it cleaned teeth. Today we know dry food does not clean teeth any better than canned. It has more to do with the formula. Another reason to not have excessive minerals in the food.

I checked Earthblend website! I wouldn’t line the bottom of a bird cage with it( if I printed it). There’s so much BS in it, I think I need to do a video on it!

@@PetFoodPuzzleGuy Thank you so much. I thought so. I had my doubts when it's a "one size fits all" type of food, from puppy to adult to senior. But wanted to see your thoughts.

We raised 4 Berners on Science Diet Large Breed and they all did great! One passed a month shy of 13 years old. I did a video comparing a few large breed puppy foods.

Well, their nutrients vary so they are not nutritionally the same. If excitement at meal time is your highest priority I suppose you’re right.

Not familiar with them but if they’re a recipe I’d want to see their actual nutrient profile. The real issue with recipes is how accurate are they and how easy to follow. Hills used to produce recipes for all their prescription diets till vets reported clients weren’t following them very well. They stopped, realizing pets weren’t getting the proper nutrients.

@@PetFoodPuzzleGuy Balance It involves adding a powdered mix containing minerals and vitamins for various recipes that revolve around mainly just one protein source and one grain source (with optional additions of fruits and vegetables). They indeed have a nutrient profile that they produce for any recipe that they produce on their website based on what ingredients you want to include within the recipe. The issue I can think of is that because they use one powdered mix for a variety of recipes - so in some cases you have a possibility excess of certain minerals or vitamin in certain recipes. The nutrient profile is pretty comprehensive, as far as dog food tends to be, so I think you'd find it interesting. As for Just Food For Dogs' recipes, I'm not sure where you can find the nutrient breakdown - but their recipes are a bit stricter and there's only a handful of recipes available. Perhaps they respond to emails?

@@onejaelee7044 I agree with you that there could be excessive minerals with certain recipes but I guess if they are accurate at telling you how much meat etc to use, the excesses might be minimal….especially compared to the boutique foods with really bad excesses!

I have some balance it on hand but I’ve moved away from it. You use a lot of powder per batch and then it’s very specific with regards to random grams of each ingredient. Further it was salty! For a home made food already pretty moist the dogs were chugging water on it. Now I have leftover powder that I doubt I’ll use.

I’d like to know, too

that's the frustrating thing. The ingredient definitions are so vague that you really don't know what you're getting. That's why the nutrient profile really is the best and really only way to judge a food.

There are no such studies. I did ask a board certified nutritionist last month the same thing and she said she knows of none. The mistake raw proponents make is they just look at individual ingredients. If I look at raw meat, I can test amino acid and vitamin bioavailability and digestibility. Now I cook it and can say there’s slight degeneration of amino acids and certain depletion of certain vitamins…. So raw meat is superior! But if we are formulating a complete diet offering a total combination of ingredients to deliver specific nutrients, we simply add more of that protein source or add additional alternate protein sources like egg or soy, etc. we also need to not just cook the meat but carbs like corn that offer digestible protein, fatty acids, fiber, need to be cooked correctly to be bioavailable. And offering protein is great but the formula has to be controlled in certain minerals like phosphorus, potentially harmful for compromised kidneys, and meat can be very high in. Lol! So you see there’s more to it!

@@PetFoodPuzzleGuy That's interesting. When speaking to the board certified nutritionist did they mention any plans to conduct such studies ?

@@bautista929 not that she was aware. It’s difficult to show differences in results with healthy pets. Studies and even obvious results are much easier with sick animals and therapeutic diets. I believe a raw diet or a kibble diet would be indistinguishable if one was just testing digestibility and nutrients bioavailability when testing the finished product. Would simply depend on the company’s standards and expertise.

I understand the logic for humans is that the more " processed" the food the less healthy it is. From your perspective would this logic also apply to cat and dog food ?

@@bautista929 I really need to do a video on this topic. We all know human processed food has one purpose… provide convenient good taste! Everyone knows, from fast food to all those yummy snack foods near check out, it’s horrible ingredients, terrible preservatives, artificial colors, mystery meat that at least in the US isn’t really meat! Etc etc! But it all tastes great and that is it’s purpose. Now compare that to the top board certified vet nutritionists and chemists formulating a dry food with all the various ingredients available, to deliver an optimal balance of not only protein, carbs and fat but even all the micro nutrients including vitamins and minerals. Knowing which ingredients act on each other and how long and what temperatures ingredients have to be cooked at to either become more bioavailable or to replace nutrients list in cooking. Does that sound like the processing of McDonalds or TastyCake? Those selling their own diets or their books always use the term ultra processed. It’s great marketing but it’s not just misleading, but a flat lie. It’s tough being a loving pet parent these days. Everyone wants to use your love to rip you off!

So sorry for the confusion. Yes, puppy food is much higher in nutrients for the growth of the pup. Adult diets should start restricting those high levels the adult dog no longer needs. Sorry if I confused you! Just posted a video on the nutrients of senior foods!

Well, my first thought is the 13 yr old. I would do a basic senior panel on him and see how kidneys and everything is doing. Don’t get fancy and expensive, just the basics. If his blood values are good a good like Purina ONE is fine. I live SD Senior but it has gotten expensive. But again, not critical if bloodwork is good. It’s time to get your other oils off puppy. Again, Purina ONE is a good food for the price. And I just did a video and Iams Chunks was surprisingly good at a low price. I think it’s my video on ‘Is More Expensive Healthier? Something like that! I was surprised

Thank you for responding. So would you recommend Iams chunk adult for young dogs over purina one adult then?

@@eliacastilleja301 yes, I think so. see how they do!

And I dont hink most of us would enjoy eating brown crunchy balls for the rest of our lives.

No, me either. But unless you’re involved in the last 7 decades of history you probably haven’t read about board certified vet nutritionists researching and formulating complete diets that manage kidney disease or hypertension, o RC diets that dissolve urinary stone, almost eliminating a certain surgery, or diets that activate an obese pet’s metabolism, or help manage their allergies or relieve the pain of arthritis. Nature doesn’t offer such benefits. In fact, what a wild animal is able to fetch in the wild is pretty irrelevant to modern nutrition science. In fact, there’s not even geriatrics in nature, nevermind therapeutic nutrition.

I’m still trying to find a fresh food home delivered with actual optimal nutrients but so far nothing. Since we have Chewy all food can be home delivered so that’s not an issue.

Hope to publish that Senior video tonite!

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Could you potentially do a video on Carna4?

@@goneburgers1709 curious what you read that indicated Fromm was so bad. Haven’t looked at it in years but was a good company years ago. I went to the Carna4 website. I couldn’t find any nutrient levels so will have to call them.

I tried Carna4 but the food was like rocks!! I was honestly worried my dog was gonna crack a tooth on them :/ and they did not soak well either. My cat, the little drama Queen, was actually picking her Carna4 pieces out and throwing them on the floor lol. Not sure what was up with that, because I’ve tried “baked” foods for my pets before and none of them were rocks like Carna4

Well thank you! Good to have you!

That makes sense, at least if you’re trying to rule out allergy symptoms. It is amusing to me though how the same people who want to feed their dogs line a wolf, a scavenger that will eat almost anything they can get, get upset over the term by product and less than specific meats. Parts is parts if you’re a wolf! But your point is valid. But h fortunately AAFCO will never be helpful in determining what’s healthy for your pet.

I like Farmina’s nutrient levels.

Does Farmina have Large breed puppy

@@jorjor362 yes they do, I get mini puppy … my dogs are small breed.

well, between these 3 Farmer's Dog wins but as I say at the end, even it is too high in nutrients since all their formulas are ALL LIFE STAGE, which means they are puppy food! with all those supposed great ingredients if they can't deliver optimal nutrients, why would I choose it?

N2daair23, great thoughtful comments. We can all agree humans are eating more junk processed foods and suffering from disease like obesity, diabetes, heart disease, etc. can’t even argue that. With modern busy family life there aren’t many home cooked meals like years ago. Pets suffer from obesity for sure and research proves it is from overconsumption… not fat, not carbs. We show our love by feeding too much and little exercise too. I don’t believe their lifespans are now shorter. I have no stars but spending 34 years every day in a few hundred clinics across the country, most vets are seeing longer life spans, which of course means more age related disease, including cancer. When I joined Hills in 1988 many grocery foods were pretty unbalanced. No one except me in my job looked at magnesium levels in cat foods or protein in dog food, but the nutritionists trained me well. I can tell you even the cheapest foods today are usually much better than foods in the 80s. They had no choice but to improve as nutrition became more well known. Now sadly, tragically, we have gone full circle and the pet food marketers have convinced caring pet parents that high protein is actually healthy and carbs like corn is bad. There is no nutritional basis for such claims but now it’s all about selling expensive pet food. You ask what is making pets sucker and sicker? Well, who knows how we’re corrupting our water and food supply!?! Pets and people included. Look at allergies! When I wax a kid there was that one dweeb in the class with his inhaler for allergies. Today it’s half the class. Vets see the same thing with dogs and cats! The simple fact is we have allowed the pet food markets to get us looking at ingredients, something they can control and manipulate, rather than asking what the nutrient levels are. It’s hard and expensive to formulate a consistent diet of optimal nutrients! Most don’t do it! So I do believe we will see more kidney disease and urinary stones from all these new so called fresh foods with real whole ingredients because their nutrient levels are horrible. Want proof? lol at the nutritional statement… All Life Stages! That includes the high levels needed for puppies and kittens. Those levels are excessive and dangerous for adult, worse yet, senior pets. But the industry doesn’t care because they’re making too much money. And they have done a great job of demonizing the few companies doing all the research and formulating amazing therapeutic diets! Yes, it drives me nuts and breaks my heart.I almost don’t want to ask what kibble you’re feeding, believing it has high quality ingredients. You said it’s mostly meat, yet you’re adding more meat. That’s protein you are adding and your pup can only use so much. It can’t store it for another day. It has to be broken down by the liver and kidneys and eventually turned to energy. A simpler easier way to provide energy would be with fat and carbs, reducing the workload on those kidneys. That’s important if your dog is geriatric and in the earliest stages of kidney disease. Sorry foff RC this long comment but sitting on the porch with my two dogs with a beer, watching the sun starting to head behind the mountains.

Thanks for the very unique entertaining comment.

Well thanks Katherine!

Yes, I have a video comparing them!

Well, you would feed puppy food during the last trimester. That amount of food seems a bit high. I had a Bernese Mountain dog male, exactly 100 lbs. the bag said 5-7 cups. He maintained perfect weight on 4 cups. The amts to feed are just a guideline.

Yes it was all life stages I was feeding till I was more educated in feeding a raw food diet. You know wayyyyy to much about nutrition to just dismiss the benefits of a fresh food diet. BUT I'LL KEEP WATCHING GREAT VIDEO

@@thoroughbredbullterriers9039 I am honestly trying hard to not dismiss fresh feeding. It may very well be a great option. But my main purpose, my lane, is fighting against the lies against kibble and canned. That’s where my videos so appeal to fresh/raw feeders because the industry is so dishonest! I didn’t expect that! Lol! I am good with lots of perspectives, but hate dishonesty!

@@thoroughbredbullterriers9039 trying not to ignore any comments but as I said elsewhere, if you had a sound recipe from real board certified vet nutritionists, and you’re buying the ingredients yourself, what could be better? Just understand I’m here for the people who aren’t going to do anything but dry or canned.

Yes, and a little brown ball can’t possibly provide nutrition. It looks like little burnt brown balls so it must be! Let’s not look any deeper. I see you used Bible in your name. As a student of the scriptures imagine a Mormon or a JW coming to your door with all those verses they like to use. It sounds very compelling and convincing if you don’t have a knowledge of the scriptures. The same is true with false deceptive marketing. I have 34 years of experience and knowledge so I can see the error. Maybe that helps you understand my position.

Well thanks for your input!

@@PetFoodPuzzleGuy who's paying you to say otherwise

@@faru6 well it’s hard to believe I’m doing all this and no one is paying me! I guess it’s just in my blood now after so many years. I hate seeing people who love their pets like I do get so confused, and frustrated over what to feed their beloved pet. Or even be happy spending a fortune on a food that’s not as healthy as even Dog Chow in the grocery store. Clearly you don’t agree with me. That’s cool. You’re not the first, especially on social media!

@PetFoodPuzzleGuy your telling me dogs are supposed to strictly rely on processed kibble for the rest of their lives?

@@faru6 oh, well that’s easy. Yes. But if you choose to feed your pup a homemade diet just make sure you obtain a healthy recipe from a credentialed nutritionist. Same if you are a raw proponent. My channel is not here to argue with those who oppose kibble. I am here for those like me that are going to feed kibble and/or canned and how to evaluate and choose the healthiest, rather than buy into the marketing. I could try and convince you that your opinion of processed food is based on listening to the wrong people, but instead I just try and make videos based on facts, realizing I must have some bias like you and everyone else, based on my 34 years of working with diets..